Historian Helena P. Schrader discusses ancient Spartan society and culture, seeking to rectify a number of common misconceptions. She also provides excerpts from her biographical novels about Leonidas and reviews of books on ancient Sparta. For more, visit her website at: http://spartareconsidered.com

Ancient Hoplites

Monday, June 1, 2015

Although Helen, the ultimate femme fatale, was undoubtedly a
child of Sparta, few people nowadays think of love when they think of Sparta. Certainly,
Spartan art lacks the plethora of explicitly erotic art that is found elsewhere
in Greece. Yet the historical record suggests that love – in contrast to lust –
was indeed a feature of Spartan society. Herodotus, for example, explicitly states that
King Anaxandridas refused to divorce his apparently barren wife out of
affection for her, and only reluctantly agreed to take a second wife. Likewise, Spartan sculpture has a tradition
of showing man and wife side-by-side in harmony and near equality (and strongly
reminiscent of Egyptian sculpture, by the way).
Last but not least, Spartan law was the least misogynous among the
ancient Greek city-states, and so it was the city-state in which women were
most likely to be loved rather than despised.

A Spartan Couple -- Side by Side

Before this general background we have two historical
figures, uncle and niece, man and wife, Leonidas and Gorgo. What can we glean about them from the
historical record? Is there any indication of what their relationship might
have been?

While we know that Leonidas was
Gorgo’s uncle, we do not know when either was born and so do not know the age
difference between them. Herodotus states
that Leonidas was born only “shortly” after his brother Doreius, in which case
he would have been roughly 60 years old at Thermopylae. Likewise, according to Herodotus, Gorgo was
only about eight years old in 500, which would have made her 28 when Leonidas
died at Thermopylae, or 32 years younger than he. Such an age difference would have been
unusual in Sparta, and there are several reasons why I believe this is
unlikely. First, Leonidas’ performance at Thermopylae in the forefront of the
most bitterly fought phalanx battles of history is improbable for a man of
sixty. Hoplite fighting was grueling
even if it lasted only a few hours on a single day. Second, it would mean
Leonidas had been nearly 50 when he married, again something that violated
Spartan law and custom. Finally, it would mean that Cleomenes’ only child had
not been born to him until he was over thirty, something which was also
unlikely for a ruling king.

It is far more likely that
Leonidas was not much more than 45 at Thermopylae, 45 being the age at which
Spartan reservists were no longer called-up for front-line service (i.e. the age at which they were considered no longer fit enough for the rigors of hoplite battles.) Likewise, it is very probable that Herodotus
underestimated Gorgo’s age in his depiction of her encounter with Aristagoras, either
intentionally (in order to discredit Cleomenes), or unintentionally (because he
was unaware that Spartan girls did not marry until their late teens). (In the rest of Greece, a girl was married as
soon as possible after her first period, so any girl still in her father’s home
was per definition a “child.”) It is far more likely, however, that Gorgo was a
teenager rather than a small child in 500 BC. This would mean that about 15
years separated Leonidas from Gorgo.

While less unusual than a 32 year
age difference, the age gap is still enough to mean that Leonidas would already
have been in school by the time Gorgo was born, and make it unlikely that they
spent much time together as children. The relationship would have been further
complicated by the fact that Cleomenes was the son of Anaxandridas’ second
wife, while Leonidas the son of his first. Leonidas’ full brother Doreius
refused to serve Cleomenes and twice led expeditions abroad to set up colonies.
While Leonidas appears to have been singularly loyal to Cleomenes, there is no
indication that he was particularly favored or close to Cleomenes – except the
marriage itself.

The fact that Leonidas was, after
the departure of Doreius, Cleomenes’ heir apparent provides the most logical
explanation of Leonidas’ marriage to Gorgo.
Gorgo clearly presented the Spartan state with a problem since the most
important duty of Sparta’s kings was to lead her hoplite army – something no woman, not even a Spartan woman, could do.
This does not, however, mean that the throne could not be transferred –
like other property – from an heiress to her husband or son. Sparta’s inheritance laws were notoriously
woman-friendly, allowing for heiresses to inherit. Therefore, the Spartans must have worried
that any man who married Gorgo would claim the Agiad throne, if not for himself
then for his sons by Gorgo. By marrying Gorgo to his half-brother and closest
male relative, Cleomenes avoided any of these potential problems.

In short, the marriage of Gorgo
and Leonidas was almost certainly dynastic; the marriage need not have involved
any kind of inclination or affection on either side. But the case is not quite that simple. First, as the closest male relative of
Cleomenes, Leonidas would have been well positioned to claim the throne without taking Gorgo to wife, if he had
found the marriage objectionable.
Certainly, if he were the kind of man, as some historians claim, who was capable of committing fratricide and regicide to
lay claim to the throne in 480, than he need not have gone to the trouble of
marrying Cleomenes’ daughter. He would have found ways of disposing of her as
well as her father. Second, while Spartan
law did not give women any official say over their husbands, it hardly seems
likely that Gorgo, who went down in history as outspoken even in matters that
did not directly concern her, was going to meekly accept a man she did not
want. In short, while there is no evidence of strong mutual attraction, there
is good reason to believe that both parties to the marriage found it acceptable.

There are two incidents in the historical record, however,
that hint at something more than a marriage of convenience. The first of these is the famous
scene in which Gorgo deciphers the significance of the apparently blank writing
tablets sent by Demaratus. The way the
scene is written, it is clear that Demaratus has sent a message to the Spartan
state – not to Leonidas personally. But “no one” could figure out what the blank
tablets meant until Gorgo suggested scraping the wax off them. The importance of this scene is two-fold.
First, it is further evidence of Gorgo’s cleverness, but secondly, it shows that Gorgo was present when affairs
of state were being discussed. A message to Sparta
would most likely have been sent to the ephors or the Gerusia. If Gorgo was
present when either of these bodies were meeting, it could only have been
because Leonidas was willing to let her be present – a clear sign of respect.

And Gorgo returned the compliment. When asked by a foreign woman why Spartan
women were the only women in the world who “ruled their men,” Gorgo allegedly
said it was because Spartans were the only women who gave birth to men. Her classically Laconic answer went straight
to the heart of the matter, accurately diagnosing the low status of women
elsewhere in the Greek world as the product of misogyny. Only Spartan men, Gorgo implied, were man
enough not to be intimidated by strong, out-spoken women. That is not the
answer of a woman, who thinks little of her own husband.

This second incident is revealing for another reason as
well. Since most Greek women were
confined to the back of their own houses and rarely set foot
outside except for weddings, funerals and assisting in the childbirth of relatives, it is hardly likely that
Gorgo’s allegedly Attican interrogator was outside of her own four walls, much
less outside her city. The woman who
asked Gorgo about the strange power of Spartan woman was in her own
environment; Gorgo was the visitor. That means that Leonidas took Gorgo with
him when he travelled abroad. That in
turn suggests a far closer relationship than a conventional marriage.

Unfortunately, the only exchange between Leonidas and Gorgo that has been passed down to us it is
little more than ideological drivel.
Allegedly, Gorgo asked Leonidas
for his “instructions” or “orders” as he marched away to his death and he told
Gorgo to do her eugenic duty to “marry a good man and have good children.” This text-book exchange is so stereotypical
that it is very probably spurious, intended to give greater credence to the
ideology contained by putting it into the mouths of heroes centuries after both
Leonidas and Gorgo were long dead.

In summary, Leonidas was the son of a man who defied the
ephors for love of his mother. He married voluntarily a young woman, who had
already established a reputation for being out-spoken and politically acute. He
included her in contexts where affairs of state were being handled. He travelled
with her abroad. He had at least one child with her. And he may have explicitly
urged her to marry again and found a new family after his own death. A love
story? Not necessarily, but it has the makings of one….

Leonidas' relationship and marriage with Gorgo is an important component of the second book in my Leonidas Trilogy: A Peerless Peer.